Day 1: Hakone, Japan.

It's today! It's today!! My 10 days Japan trip starts today!
Took a 0155 midnight flight on Cathay Pacific last night. Mom and dad came to see me and Ryan off, and my usual bimbotic duo, Melissa, surprised me at the airport with a mini birthday cake from Macs, hahahaha.

It wasn't a direct flight, so we took the flight to Hong Kong airport for transit.

Somehow lucky that we were on a midnight flight. Got to catch the stars and sunrise at the same time. The sight was spectacular, my camera is not doing this pretty universe any justice. Meh.

But good enough lah?

We were both half dead by the time we arrived at Hong Kong. Because we actually intended to nap on the plane, but we ended up watching 47 Ronin.

Anyway, I was pretty annoyed when I arrived in Hong Kong for transit. We touched down at about 5:15AM and it was sooooooo freaking early there isn't much restaurant open. T_T I couldn't eat my dim sum at all. So we nua around the departure hall and stupidly walked into a Singaporean Restaurant, not knowing it is Singaporean Restaurant. So we became ahhai and kena chop 28bux for a bowl of wanton mee and 4 gyoza.... T_T

At about 08:30AM, we were all ready for the flight to Tokyo!!

A must-have shot whenever you take planes, hahahaha.

I practically knocked out on the flight the moment I sat down on my seats because I didn't sleep the previous night when I was on the plane to Hongkong, hahahahaha. Missed all the good views of HK's landscape during takeoff, :(

We arrived in Tokyo, Haneda Airport at about 1405(Japan time), and had quite a bit of problems getting through the customs. Both me and Ryan didn't know we have to fill in 2 forms before we can get through.

1: Visiting visa
2: Duty declaration

So we ended up having to queue 2 times for both the forms because we didn't fill in. And wasted more than an hour at the arrival hall, :(

And also ended up missing the original bus we were supposed to take to Shinjuku. So we had to rush around the airport and purchase all the necessary tickets and rush out to the bus stop. I'm surprised we actually managed to catch the earliest bus available! But running with luggages is actually quite an experience hahahhaa.

Upon arriving at Shinjuku, we headed over to Odakyu Tourist Center and purchase our Romancecar tickets to Hakone!

We also bought Hakone+Fuji Freepass! To allow us to travel freely around Hakone area with unlimited rides for 3 days!

Made a beeline to our hotel the moment we alighted because we were required to check-in before 6PM, otherwise our dinner will be forfeited. :(

I mean, the dinner for today is a Kaiseki style dinner... HOW CAN WE MISS THAT?!?!?!
So we ran lah, again. With our luggages, hahahahha

Hakone is famous for their Onsen and Ryokan! So we chose a ryokan hotel which is super near to Hakone-Yumoto station! More convenient for us and there is a 7-11 close to the hotel!

Our room! Dinner was being prep the moment we settled down. And yep, dinner in our room. Dam shiokkkk!

I swear this is one of the best meals I've ever had in my entire life. The sashimi is so fresh!! And every single dish on the table is so well prepared, I can really see how much effort they've put into preparing the meal for us!

If only they have extra serving of sashimi for me, HAHAHAHA. :x

Anyway after we were done with our dinner, we pop by their public and private baths. We will have to bare it all and walk into the bath without anything on. Not even towels! So everyone was in their birthday suit when I walked into the bath. Felt quite embarrassed at first, but it will all good after a while hahaha. Oh, it's not a mixed bath by the way. I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THINKING, HAHAHAHAHA.

5 minutes in hot spring more or less soothed every tired and lazy bone in me. Me and Ryan were close to collapsing by the time we were done with all these activities. I even had a mental breakdown at some point because I thought we were unable to reach our hotel in time for check-in and dinner and we wouldn't be refunded if we miss anything. But I'm glad we managed the unexpected flight change well(Was supposed to arrive in Tokyo at 8AM in the morning).

And it's yet another long day tomorrow! But I believe we will have lots of fun! Unless we have third party fuck-ups hindering us, which I hope not..... So good night fellaaaas.

Hey Vivian, just finish reading your blog about the Hakone. This post is really useful and informative. Like the photos in your blog, especially the ones with food :) My friend and I are planning to travel to Japan this year, and just wonder how you think this 3 days itinerary, https://www.43km.co/published_trips/a106d5f4-9919-42ac-a1f1-458f374bc2a7, if it is good, we'd like to follow its route. Thanks.